Kobe Bryant: How to Watch the Lakers Icon's 'Muse' Documentary

Earlier this week, Vanessa Bryant shared an emotional clip from Kobe Bryant's Muse, a documentary focusing on Kobe Bryant's 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers. The 2015 film aired on Showtime, which still has the film readily available to stream on its platforms. The film is also available to stream on Amazon Prime with a Showtime subscription.

On Instagram, Vanessa shared a clip from Muse's end credits, showing Bryant playing cards with her and their daughters. She shared the lyrics to Beyonce Knowles' "XO," which Beyonce performed at the Celebration of Life memorial on Monday.

"Missing you both so much #GigiBryant and [Kobe Bryant] MUSE documentary," Vanessa wrote in the caption, adding a heart emoji. "Even missing your 'earthquakes' - (leg shakes) song is XO by [Beyonce]."

Muse was directed by Gotham Chopra and produced by Bryant. Following Bryant's death in a helicopter crash last month, Chopra shared two stories from working with Bryant on Religion of Sports.

In the first story, Chopra was impressed by Bryant's film knowledge. One of their collaborators mentioned Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, which inspired Bryant to suddenly check out every movie Aronofsky ever made. The next time they were working on the film, he came back with more ideas for the film based on other Aronofsky movies.

"I stared at him speechless. I was doing the math in my head. It was quite possible that he had done nothing else since I last saw him but watch Aronofsky movies. Like not even had a meal or gone to the bathroom, let alone slept," Chopra wrote. "I asked him why he felt the need to watch all those films. He shrugged. 'How could I have an opinion on Black Swan and why Aronofsky did what he did if I didn't understand his mind?' For him, it wasn't about understanding the film, it was about understanding the artist's mind. That was Kobe."

In the second story, Bryant and Chopra showed a rough cut of Muse before it aired on Showtime. Steve Nash saw it, and his first response was "Mother...f—....a—hole." Chopra told Bryant about that response and Bryant laughed.

"'I love that! It's true! It's true!' he agreed, almost wistfully," Chopra recalled. "After a beat, I asked him to describe himself in three words. He thought about it, shrugged and said: I'm just me.' I agreed with that. Entirely. He was simply one of a kind."

Muse was a preview for Bryant's growing interest in the entertainment world. After he retired, Bryant began working on books and joined legendary animator Glen Keane to make Dear Basketball. In 2018, the animated short won an Oscar, making Bryant the first professional athlete to win an Oscar.

"We gathered around my animation desk as I drew the Beast, Ariel, and Pocahontas for his girls," Keane wrote in The Hollywood Reporter after Bryant's death. "I remember how close he was to his girls, and how close this family felt. The image that will now forever be etched in my mind is of Gianna nestled in his lap, so content with Kobe stroking her beautiful hair. So much love!

Unfortunately, Dear Basketball is not available to stream online as of this writing.

Bryant died on Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash with daughter Gianna Bryant and seven others. He was 41 years old.

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